Teak decking on flybridge in med

Hurricane said:
What is K2R?

Actually I like teak but I dissagree - it takes a huge amount of time to keep it clean and looking new.
For example this year we (2 of us) spent the equivalent of 3 days sanding about half of it and cleaning it.
Great results but loads of messy work.
I would seriously consider replacing it with synthetic - lots of people say that synthetic is even hotter but I'm not sure that is the case with modern materials.
Click to expand...

Agree with you around time/money spent trying to keep teak pristine. Earlier this year I had synthetic laid on my bathing platform. It's 2nd generation which is supposedly cooler to the feet in hot climes. Can't make any claims about that side of it's performance. What I can say is that it feels and looks superb. Cleaning just requires soap and water. In my view, it's the best money I ever spent on the boat to date.
 
so think will go with first instinct and have teak decking on flybridge and risk it being too hot. but if others seem to cope then no reason why i cannot. as for looking after it, i tend to get the boat cleaned every few weeks anyway when i am not there.
 
NoIllusion said:
Agree with you around time/money spent trying to keep teak pristine. Earlier this year I had synthetic laid on my bathing platform. It's 2nd generation which is supposedly cooler to the feet in hot climes. Can't make any claims about that side of it's performance. What I can say is that it feels and looks superb. Cleaning just requires soap and water. In my view, it's the best money I ever spent on the boat to date.
Click to expand...

Good to hear.
My bathing platform teak is starting to get a bit thin.
What is tge brand/manufacturer of synthetic that you used?
 
Nick_H said:
It's a stain remover spray that dries to a white powder and absorbs grease. Spray it on grease stains on your teak ASAP, leave it a while to soak up the grease, then brush it off and vacuum up the residue, or wash the area. It's widely available everywhere.

http://www.johnlewis.com/k2r-stain-remover-spray-100ml/p231572721
Click to expand...

Thanks - I will get some and try it.
As Rick says, crisps dropped very quickly show up - also sun cream can be a problem.
 
i'd always put teak on flybridge. It doesn't get too hot most of the time in Med sun.

Portofino is simply not correct about teak veneer/laminate on UK boats (sunseeker/Prin/Fairline). It is and has been for many years solid teak, though only 6mm thick.

Beware the plastic teak. My brother has Tek Dek by wilks, and one of his decks is the new "doesn't get hot" stuff fitted 2015 while t'other deck was done a year earlier and is the original product. Both types get far too hot - impossible to walk on in the summer sun. The only fake teak that doesn't get too hot is the cork-based marine decking 2000 or whatever it is called. I have this in my tender. It works really well and looks ok in the tender but just wouldn't look good on the deck of the mother ship, imho.

So it has to be real teak, imho, and pay someone to maintain it because life is too short to diy it. Also beware the cheap caulk products if heading for sunny climates, as some of them go soft and sticky. Best imho to spec TDS440 caulking, which is more silicone than polyurethane, made by TDS in florida. This is what plenty of superyachts use.

As regards installation, you want to vacuum bag it these days, not use weights

I agree 100% about k2r - brilliant stuff
 
With regard to the teak feeling hot underfoot, does it help to spray the deck with water? Even with guests aboard I would have thought it wouldn't be too inconvenient to run a hose up to the f/b with a pump powered from the genset and spray the deck every couple of hours.
 
benjenbav said:
With regard to the teak feeling hot underfoot, does it help to spray the deck with water? Even with guests aboard I would have thought it wouldn't be too inconvenient to run a hose up to the f/b with a pump powered from the genset and spray the deck every couple of hours.
Click to expand...
It would help if needed, but with real teak I've never needed to, in SofF at least. It is essential with plastic decking though
 
jfm said:
i'd always put teak on flybridge. It doesn't get too hot most of the time in Med sun.

Portofino is simply not correct about teak veneer/laminate on UK boats (sunseeker/Prin/Fairline). It is and has been for many years solid teak, though only 6mm thick.

/QUOTE]
But on a lot of heavey traffic areas -eg- bathing platforms ( it happened to our Sunseeker disappointingly ) the caulking wears -or more like is trimmed down after the teak is rubbed down ,or just physically rubs down --to reveal what looks like a sheet ,come veneer or laminate that's been routered -and the chalk occupies 1/2 the depth -ish ?

The game is given away by looking at the curved edging , round corners of say a hatch area, -check out direction of the grain .If its the same way -then a machine has routered out the caulking space ---- but killer Question in WHAT ?
It's not individual teak strips @what ever 6mm or bigger ? ,It's pre machined /routered sheets glued down ,cut to patterns .
It looks nice not dought ing that and last x years .
But one ,well I did feel a little cheated .Would have prefered solid 12 mm individual or what ever with the chalk going to the bottom of the gaps , realise that's not always possible and more expensive by a mile .
I,ve seen the repair templates being fitted .
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
We have teak on the flybridge and the 'plastic' simulated teak on the Williams, I can assure that you don't want the 'plastic' stuff on your decks (you could fry eggs on it!). We occasionally have to spray some water on the deck teak at the height of summer (+37c & direct sunlight), but never on the flybridge, although we always have the full Bimini up otherwise you would suffer 2nd degree burns.

Personally I think the boat looks better finished off with teak decking, but it does take some care & attention.... sloppy crisp eaters are thrown overboard!
 
Portofino said:
But on a lot of heavey traffic areas -eg- bathing platforms ( it happened to our Sunseeker disappointingly ) the caulking wears -or more like is trimmed down after the teak is rubbed down ,or just physically rubs down --to reveal what looks like a sheet ,come veneer or laminate that's been routered -and the chalk occupies 1/2 the depth -ish ?.
Click to expand...

That doesn't mean it's veneer or laminate though. Sheets can be made by using strips of teak with a recess routered out of one edge of the strip, the width of a caulking line and about half the thickness of the strip. The strips are then positioned together, one flat edge to one routered edge, and the recess is filled with caulk. This both glues the strips together (to make the sheets), and provides the finished caulk surface of the sheets. This is how my flybridge decking was made by K J Howells.
 
Last edited:
jfm said:
Beware the plastic teak. My brother has Tek Dek by wilks, and one of his decks is the new "doesn't get hot" stuff fitted 2015 while t'other deck was done a year earlier and is the original product. Both types get far too hot - impossible to walk on in the summer sun. The only fake teak that doesn't get too hot is the cork-based marine decking 2000 or whatever it is called. I have this in my tender. It works really well and looks ok in the tender but just wouldn't look good on the deck of the mother ship, imho.
Click to expand...

Apropos lookey likey teak, I was talking to a guy last week who owns one of the faux teak manufacturing firms (he ordered some stainless letters for his boat :)) and asked him who his main competitor is. He didn't regard Tek Dek as much competition these days, and they have allegedly fallen well behind the market leaders.

I hope he doesn't read this because for me, it's got to be the real thing even if that does mean faffing about removing grease stains.
 
@Portofino, sure veneer was used a LONG time ago by the UK big three and maybe that includes your old sunseeker but your statement that I said was wrong was "Most today are veneers with our big 3" and I stand by what I said, which is that you are wrong on that. The uk big three use 6mm thick planks currently and for the last several years, not veneer or laminate
 
There's two newish ,less than 2 y olds boats side by side near me .
One is a Targa 48 ,t,other a Prinny v48 .
Without naming names one has allready exactly what I describes in a heavey trafficked area on the B platform .
It looks like guardiene has no Passerelle fob and jumps on foot stricking the same place. Dodging the stern springs .
The black caulk has worn away across 2-3 lines., which look like a solid mass of wood now .
So I reckon it's a template of sheet ,routered to say 1/2 way ( guess..?) and back filled with caulking
I,ll try to take some pics next time .,to illustrate this and some corner pieces to check the grain direction of both boats .
It would make a good post .iam ambivalent I like teak and the subject with real life pics of these two and a few others old and new will be a great topic .
It's just that if they were all seperate pieces /strips as you suggest ,then the caulk would run down all the way ,not 1/2 ,and that would wear evenly ok thinner but you would still see the black lines .

So why have the black lines -caulking disappeared on the landing area of the B platform on a del in 2015 boat from one f our big 3 ?
 
petem said:
I hope he doesn't read this because for me, it's got to be the real thing even if that does mean faffing about removing grease stains.
Click to expand...

It isn't just removing the odd grease stains, Pete.
To keep the teak looking new takes a huge amount of time.
Without doubt, one of the biggest jobs on keeping a boat looking new.

I agree with JFM that the cork style Marine Deck 2000 is great on a tender and wouldn't work on the main boat.
But there has to be an easier finish.
I agree that plain white decks don't look as good.
So, I still haven't rulled out synthetic deck.
Even if it does get very hot, that may be better than the relentless cleaning of teak.
 
Hurricane said:
relentless cleaning of teak.
Click to expand...

What do you do to your teak that's relentless Mike? If you like it straw brown then it needs a two part treatment once or twice a year, and otherwise surely you just wash it when you wash the boat?

An advantage of the teak being brown is that it doesn't show up small amounts of dirt that start landing on the boat the moment you finish cleaning it. Before I put teak down, I found that every time someone walked on the white GRP with wet feet (which happens constantly when the kids like to jump off the flybridge into the sea) it left a slightly dirty footprint, so the flybridge deck needed cleaning far more often that the boat.

Overall I find the teak less time consuming that a plain white deck, though I don't 2-part it anymore because SWMBO prefers the faded colour
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

ari
What is your lifejacket policy?
2 3
Replies
46
Views
665
ari
ari
Bouba
Keeping warm in bed on these cold nights
2
Replies
25
Views
680
Mr Googler
Mr Googler

Share this page

Top